LOVE

As we know, 1 John 4:8 teaches us that God is love. The love of God gives us stability and assurance in our faith. It surrounds us and upholds us in our daily lives. But God’s love accomplishes many other things as well.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. (Pro 3:3 ESV)

We need to write God’s steadfast love and faithfulness upon our hearts, and one way of doing that is to memorize Bible verses about Him and His love. His Word is truth.

Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne. (Pro 20:28 NKJV)

God’s lovingkindness actually supports, maintains and sustains His throne. Wow! What an idea worthy of meditation.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; ²and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Eph 5:1-2 NASB)

We should walk in love, allowing it to motivate us, to lead us, and to flow from us towards other people. As we live in this way, we are being transformed by the example of our Lord and Savior.

If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit. (1 Cor 13:3 NET)

As 1 Corinthians reminds us, without love for God, for ourselves and for others, we have received nothing. This is quite an enormous truth to wrap our thoughts around, so take some time in the weeks to come to meditate upon today’s topic. God bless you.

Be Generous

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (Lk 6:35 NIV, underscoring added)

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. (Pro 19:17 ESV, underscoring added)

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. (Ps 112:5 ESV, underscoring added)

Justice means fair play, impartiality, objectivity or neutrality. The Scripture verse shown above (Ps 112:5) talks about a person who deals generously, lends to others, and conducts his affairs with justice. All of these character traits are traits of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our example. (See Phil 2:5; 1 Pet 2:21)

The Lord challenges us to test Him with our generosity just so that we will learn that we cannot out-give God! (Mal 3:10-12) It is the only area in which the Lord has instructed us to test Him. Just ponder that for a little while . . .

The Lord demonstrated His love for mankind by GIVING His only begotten Son to become our Savior. That was sacrificial love and sacrificial giving on God’s part, and anyone who is a parent understands that completely.

The focus of this article is about the call to believers to be generous—to live a generous lifestyle. And it’s crucial for us to understand that God the Father gave generously, and Jesus Christ gave generously, also.

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Ac 20:35)

When we live a generous lifestyle while here on earth, in obedience to our heavenly Father, the Lord sees it and He places treasure in heaven aside for us as a reward. (Mt 6:19-21) God is most pleased when we share what we have with others, especially with those who are needy. (Mt 10:8; Heb 13:16)

Live generously and with joy! We believers are being transformed daily into the image of Christ, and this is simply one way in which we may cooperate with the Lord in our own transformation. (See Rom 8:29-30; Phil 2:13; 3:21; Col 3:10; 2 Cor 3:18) Blessings upon you!

How Do We Take Thoughts Captive?

Our thoughts are central to our lives because we act upon our thoughts. (see Pro 23:7a; Mk 7:21)

When we consider our ways, it’s wise to turn our hearts to God’s Word. (Ps 119:59) God’s Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts; and it will reveal our true motives to us—something that we all need. (Heb 4:12)

We should reject our own thoughts and carnal ways; and turn to the Lord, who will forgive us and will renew our thinking. (Isa 55:7; 65:2)

God understands our thoughts and knows our works. (Isa 66:18) But God’s thoughts and God’s ways are higher than ours. (Isa 55:8-9) That’s why the Bible tells us that we’re being changed into His image day by day. (2 Cor 3:18) We need to be changed.

Here’s how to take thoughts captive [confined; caged; enslaved]:

Recognizing when they are spiritually unhealthy; worthless; unpleasing to God; and not in agreement with the Word of God;
Stopping them in their tracks by determining that they did not originate in our own thoughts or hearts;
Rejecting them outright and robbing them of any power over us; and
Replacing them with Scripture verses that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds to counteract them and to minister comfort to our hearts.

It’s important to understand this process because the Lord tells us to take our thoughts captive in 2 Corinthians 10:5:

. . . casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ . . .

Our goal is to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ, our Savior. We willingly offer our thoughts to the Lord Jesus, who alone is able to confine them.

As mentioned above, the types of things that we would want to take captive are those that are:

Spiritually unhealthy (fearful or sinful);
Unproductive to the Kingdom of God;
Unpleasing to God;
Worthless;
Originating from the evil one (disparaging of self or others; lonely; discouraged; depressed; lustful thoughts; mulling over past hurts; etc.);
Not in agreement with the Word of God.

We are blessed because we have the freedom and ability to choose what thoughts to entertain and what thoughts to utterly reject. We have spiritual weapons (2 Cor 10:4) at our disposal that will assist us in the battlefield of the mind. Several of those spiritual weapons are: prayer; confession; praise; the Word of God; fellowship with other believers; and the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2), we become engaged in the battle against pretense and the arrogant philosophy of the world. Trusting Christ and rightly dividing the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15), we take every thought captive, pull down the strongholds, and, by the grace of God, set ALL of the captives free. Hallelujah!

What You Behold

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Phil 4:8 NKJV)

This passage of Scripture is talking about meditation upon positive topics and positive traits. Why does the Lord want us to think about these things? One of the main reasons is that our lives do reflect whatever we value and whatever we think about.

The more that we value and think about passages from the Bible, then the more that our lives will reflect the values of the Bible. The more that we value our relationship with Jesus and the more often that we think about Jesus’ qualities, the more that we will reflect His beautiful qualities in our own lives.

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor 3:17-18 NKJV)

This passage, above, in 2 Corinthians confirms that what we behold [view, consider, regard] will actually transform us! Hallelujah!

Daily Bible reading is such a wonderful practice to cultivate because it will show us God’s “Good Life” which He has in store for each and every one of us. All that we are required to do in order to receive it is to think about it regularly and to value it highly; because we become whatever we behold.

God has created us to be miraculous beings who are transformed by the things upon which we focus, and which we value.

Spiritually Minded

. . . to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom 8:6b)

What does “spiritually minded” mean? Definition: having the mind set on spiritual things: filled with holy desires and purposes: spiritual.

Being spiritually minded may refer to the structure and outlook of our minds. This is when the Spirit is shaping our mind-(attitude)-set according to His own. It exalts Christ and values God. It cherishes the Word of God and sees people and things with a relentless God-consciousness.

Reading the Bible every day will assist us in training our mind and thoughts. A constant feeding upon the Word of God will actually renew our minds so that they’ll be in agreement with the Holy Spirit.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2)

. . . and be renewed in the spirit of your mind . . . (Eph 4:23)

Invite the Word of God to transform you so that you may be spiritually minded and enjoy a peaceful, blessed life.

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